If You Build It, They Will Come

Little late getting this out, but we are still in the first round.   In determining who to root for in the 2022-23 NBA Playoffs, we need to review who the Iowa Connections are for the playoff teams.  Congrats to Milwaukee!  You are this blog's choice to win it all! 1 - Denver - Ryan Bowen, Coach (Fort Madison) 1 - Minnesota - Luka Garza (Iowa) 2 - Sacramento - Keegan Murray (Iowa), Harrison Barnes (Ames) 1 - Golden State - Klint Carlson, Coach (Waverly) 0 - Los Angeles Lakers 1 - Memphis - Brad Jones, Coach (Iowa Wolves) 0 - Los Angeles Clippers 2 - Phoenix - Al McCoy, Announcer (Williams), Kevin Young, Coach (Iowa Energy) 3 - Milwaukee - Mike Dunlap, Coach (Iowa), A.J. Green (Northern Iowa), Lindell Wigginton (Iowa State) 0 - Miami 0 - Boston 2 - Atlanta - Paul Jesperson, Coach (Northern Iowa), Kyle Korver, Front Office (Pella) 2 - Philadelphia - Dave Joerger, Coach (Cedar Rapids), Georges Niang (Iowa State) 0 - Brooklyn 1 - Cleveland - Josh Broghamer, Coach (Iowa C...

 The Hoops release is a good point to check on the status of Iowa Connections in the NBA and whom the minds at Panini have dubbed important enough to have a card.  Hoops is good one to use because of the size of the set (300 cards) which covers more than most other sets.   According to my records there are 25 Iowa Connections in the NBA this season.  Some are coaches which won't be covered by Hoops (unless accidently in the background.)  Let's see how many made it: #51 Tyrese Haliburton #155 Doug McDermott #156 Joe Wieskamp #158 Harrison Barnes #175 Talen Horton-Tucker #190 Monte Morris #234 Keegan Murray #284 Keegan Murray We  have 8 cards and 7 connections, exactly the same connection count as last year.  This year Keegan Murray replaced Luka Garza. Excluding coaches, who is missing?  Well as mentioned above, Luka Garza for the Timberwolves is missing.  He started the season on the Iowa Wolves, so that is probably why.  Also missi...

 Here's my updated list for Iowa Connections on NBA teams.  Connections are sparser than the NFL, so I will only list teams with connections.  Looks like we are cheering for a Milwaukee / Sacramento Finals this year! (Shout out to Toronto, Utah and Atlanta)  Note: Coaches in  italics . Note: These players are not with NBA teams this after they were last year:  Joe Wieskamp (Iowa),    Abdel Nader (ISU), Lindell Wingginton (ISU),  Tyler Cook  (Iowa)   ,  Matt Thomas (ISU) Northern Iowa : 6 Iowa State Cyclones : 5 Iowa Hawkeyes : 4 Ames : 2 Buena Vista : 1 Iowa Energy : 1 Pella: 1 Cedar Rapids River Raiders: 1 Iowa Wolves: 1 Marion: 1 2 - Sacramento :          Harrison Barnes  (Ames),  Keegan Murray (Iowa) 2 - Milwaukee :        A.J. Green (UNI),  Mike Dunlap  (Iowa) 2 - Toronto :               Nick Nurs e (UNI),...